Chain Reaction
by Peash
Summary: After an unfortunate meeting with a Dark Mage, the two wizards Natsu and Lucy end up getting tied up in rather embarrassing situation. Well, more 'chained up' than 'tied up', as Natsu's favourite dragon scale scarf is used to shackle the Dragon Slayer and Celestial Mage together. How will the two manage to live together? Will romance blossom or will Lucy lose it? Find out...
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello and welcome! To my first ever fanfic uploaded to this site~ As a newbie, I'm slightly nervous about showing my work to others, so I really hope you'll enjoy this story. As an important note, the basic idea for two characters to get chained together is pretty common, mine was inspired by a YGO fic I read years ago, and completely forgot about so sadly I can't give proper credit to the author. But I haven't seen a Fairy Tail themed one so I've decided to write one myself. (Apologies if one of these already exists, but I'll still write mine anyway because you can never have too much NaLu).

I also do not own Fairy Tail.

Anyways, enjoy!

~ Peash

~~~ Chain Reaction ~~~

The day: Sunday, mid-July. The weather: clear skies with no wind. The temperature: unbearably and unreasonably hot. And Lucy of Fairy Tail did not like hot weather. Well, at least weather as hot as this particular day. There was a fine line between it being pleasantly warm and absolutely roasting, and that line had been crossed around ten-degrees-Celsius ago. The celestial mage was slumped lifelessly on the bar, barely balancing on her bar stool. Across from her stood Mirajane, who wore a simple yet stunning yellow and blue check sundress, she was smiling at Lucy with pity and handed the girl another glass of ice cold water. "Here you go, Lucy!"

The blonde took the glass with an unsteady hand, without even lifting her head to look at her friend. "Thanks, Mira..." Lucy mumbled gratefully, barely finishing the bartenders' name.

"No problem!" Mira smiled, "You're looking a little worse for wear." She commented, tilting her head whilst watching Lucy pitifully trying to drink from the glass without having to lift her head off the table.

"Yeah..." Lucy agreed with a sigh, "hot weather doesn't really agree with me." She was just about to take another gulp of water when an elbow suddenly collided with the back of her head. The celestial mage was propelled towards the bar table and her face collided with the wood with a sickening crunch. "YOUCH!" Lucy screamed in pain, spinning around to confront her attacker whilst simultaneously clutching her nose. "ALRIGHT. WHO DID THAT?!"

However her attacker was completely oblivious to the pain he had just caused Lucy, and stood with his back to her facing someone else completely. And the celestial mage wasn't at all surprised to see that her attacker was the rose-haired Natsu. "That's it, Gray!" The Dragon Slayer yelled furiously, "I'm gonna blaze you so bad that not even your coldest ice will be able to cool the burns I'm gonna give ya!" Natsu's right hand contained a fistful of fire and he was just about to launch himself at the ice mage across the guildhall when he suddenly felt a hand with unbreakable grip grab ahold of his scarf. He whirled around in surprise and all anger drained out of him as he withered up in fear, above him stood Lucy, her eyes glowing an ominous red. Trembling with terror Natsu put two and two together and realised he must have collided with Lucy when Gray sent him flying across the guildhall. "Lucy," he stuttered "I'm r-really really sorry! I-"

"YOU MORON!" The Dragon Slayer didn't even finish before the blonde started assaulting him with all manner of language. She felt the rose-haired boy shrink away even further in fear and she dragged him even closer by his scarf in retaliation until they were almost nose to nose. "I am going to GUT you like a FISH and force-feed you to Happy!" Lucy threatened, she continued to throw more insults at the boy trapped in her clutches until she was interrupted by loud laughter.

"See, Natsu!" Gray sneered, having made his way over to the bar. "This is what you get for-" But before he could continue, Lucy's gaze had moved from Natsu and was now turned to him. The ice mage gulped in fear, realising just how mad she was, his face paled and sweat began forming on his brow.

"AND YOU-" The blonde hissed, her gaze boring into the boy's soul with hatred and fury. "If YOU didn't keep starting fights with this numb-skull I wouldn't have to deal with all these injuries!" Lucy roared, gesturing at Natsu who was now just a lifeless, limp body in her hands.

The celestial mage's rant about the two boys continued until Mirajane made her away around the bar and gently stood in between the furious blonde and the Dragon Slayer. "Now, now. Lucy, dear, I'm sure the boys didn't mean to hurt you. Did you, boys?" She questioned, glancing at the two mages who desperately nodded in agreement. "See!" Mira continued, turning back to Lucy and gently placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I think we can find you some ice for your nose, and then maybe you should sit outside for a while in the shade to cool off."

Lucy stopped her rant abruptly, listening to her friend's advice. Reluctantly she released the dragon scale scarf in her hands and let her shoulders slump forward, her hand was still covering her nose but her cheeks were flushed with remnants of anger and pain. "Whatever." She mumbled and let Mira lead her out towards to door. Mira turned towards Gray with expecting eyes and nodded towards the injured celestial mage. Getting the hint, Gray hurriedly stripped off his shirt before creating a large hunk of ice and wrapping the shirt around it. The ice mage handed it to Lucy who limply took it without thanking him, with comforting words Mira then led the blonde outside towards a large, leafy tree.

"Man," Natsu said once the two girls were out of earshot. "That was intense, I've never seen Lucy get so mad before." He ran his fingers through his hair, worriedly watching his hurt friend slump against the tree.

"Aye!" A voice agreed, and the Dragon Slayer was glad to see Happy hovering near his head. "Although you did crash into her pretty hard, Natsu." The blue cat scolded before landing on his friend's shoulder.

"Mhhmm." Gray murmured in agreement, still slightly in shock from the rough tongue lashing he had just received. "Although I don't think she's been in a good mood today anyway." He speculated.

"Maybe I should go over and apologise to her?" Natsu whimpered as Mira finally joined them.

"I think that would be best." Mira added, looking down at Natsu with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. "You know Lucy doesn't really mean those things she said to you, Natsu, but at the moment this hot weather seems to be getting her down. Maybe you could try cheering her up?" She offered optimistically.

The rose-haired boy blinked in surprise. "Me?!" He questioned, "Why me?! It was Gray's fault too!"

The ice mage was about to argue but Mira placed a hand on his chest to restrain him. "Natsu," she started softly, "it's not about whose to blame, it's about making it up to Lucy. And you're her special friend, she'll probably appreciate you trying to cheer her up."

The Dragon Slayer wrinkled his nose in distaste and glared at the floor, his cheeks burning slightly, why did everyone refer to Lucy as his _special_ friend? Happy was his best friend, so Lucy was just his friend... a very close friend... His thoughts were interrupted by Mira clearing her throat and tilting her head towards the tree where Lucy was sitting. "Fine! Fine!" Natsu sighed, giving in. Mira smiled generously and made her way back towards the bar, and Gray gave him a strange look before heading back into the midst of the guid. Natsu grumbled to himself as he kicked a few stones around his feet as he slowly trudged over to his hurt friend. Happy had flown off his head leaving him completely alone to face Lucy all by himself, and the Dragon Slayer was sure she was just going to yell at him again.

Lucy sat with her back against the tree, one hand holding the ice pack to her face and the other was tightly grasping the ends of her shorts. She didn't look up at Natsu as he approached, so the Dragon Slayer cleared his throat loudly to try to not-so-subtly gain her attention. "H-hey, Luce!" He awkwardly greeted as he clumsily sat down next to her.

"Hey, Natsu." The blonde replied without any real enthusiasm. She sounded so forlorn Natsu considered just trying to make a run for it, there was no way _he'd_ be able to cheer her up. But to his surprise, Lucy sighed heavily before slouching over and resting her head on his shoulder. Natsu flushed pink and became completely stiff from surprise.

He tried to start a conversation to distract himself from the awkward position he was in "S-so, err, h-how you feeling?" Lucy's gaze met his and her eyebrows rose in exasperation. Oh yeah... Right. Dumb question. Natsu thought, scolding himself for being so stupid when his friend was in obvious pain. "Well! Err, I didn't mean it like that- well, what I meant was, ahh, y-you having a good day otherwise?"

Lucy smiled as her friend tried and failed to dig himself out of the hole he had gotten himself into. "Other than being punched in the face?" She asked jokingly, but it still earned her a wince of embarrassment from Natsu which she was glad about. "I'm not doing good," she continued, "I hate hot weather like this. I feel as if it's weighing me down."

Natsu didn't say anything, but he suspiciously eyed the ice package the celestial mage was holding up to her face. He didn't like the idea of anything belonging to Gray bring pressed into his friend's face. He could even _smell_ the ice mage on it! Lucy saw the Dragon Slayer distrustfully eyeing the shirt she held in her hands and she couldn't stop a grin from spreading across her face. "What are you smiling at?" Natsu asked when he saw the blonde smirking at him.

"Ohh! Absolutely nothing!" Lucy replied, she was starting to sound more like her old self. Pulling the ice pack closer to her chest the blonde stared her friend right in the eye and playfully asked, "Natsu... are you... _jealous_?"

Jumping back from her intense gaze the Dragon Slayer's cheeks flushed a bright crimson. "WAH! I AM NOT JEALOUS!" He argued angrily, hugging his knees in defence.

"Whatever you say!" Lucy giggled, purposefully nudging Natsu's side, happy with the response she had elicited out of him. Her grin spread wider, and her previous pains were completely forgotten as she sighed contentedly and stretched out her legs in front of her.

Natsu watched her, completely dumbfounded. Girls were so weird. One moment they were all depressed and the next moment they were nothing but giggly smiles. He rolled his eyes, but he was warmed to see that his friend was back to her old self, and he was even happier to see that her face looked completely fine with no bruises or marks. "Hey! Your face is looking fine, I was worried I'd hurt you, y'know."

Digging her elbows into the Dragon Slayer's ribs, the blonde pouted. "Watch it, fire breath! It's still really painful, you know! You DID hurt me, I don't quite know if I'm ready to forgive you yet." She raised her nose and eyebrows, crossing her arms in playful defiance. Lucy knew she was acting bratty, but messing around with Natsu was always fun, and she knew he wasn't taking her seriously.

"Ahh, well that's a shame..." The rose-haired boy muttered, feigning a look of regret. "Because I was gonna offer to take you to a _really_ awesome and _really_ secret place to help you cool down." He smirked, knowing he had caught the blonde's interest.

"W-well, maybe I can forgive you if you tell me more about this supposedly awesome place, then?" Lucy retaliated, still playing, but now genuinely interested in the location Natsu was talking about.

"I can't give you all the details, because I want it to be a surprise... but it does have a really cold natural pool." The Dragon Slayer grinned as he saw Lucy's eyes light up, he had been thinking about taking her to his special swimming spot when the blonde mentioned that she didn't like hot weather. The heat never bothered Natsu, but the pool really was a great place to cool down. It seemed as if he had successfully cheered his friend up like Mira had wanted him to.

The celestial mage scrambled to her knees and grabbed Natsu's wrists in excitement. "Alright!" She yelled happily. "You're one hundred percent forgiven! I'm going to run back to my place to grab some stuff, meet me there in a bit, okay?" The boy nodded in agreement and climbed to his feet as he watched Lucy practically sprint towards her apartment, despite the heat.

Happy suddenly glided down from the tree branch above and landed on the Dragon Slayer's shoulder. "I don't know who looks happier, you or Lucy!" The blue cat joked.

"Hey!" Natsu yapped, once again blushing pink. He wasn't surprised to see the feline, he had smelled Happy sitting above him as soon as he had sat next to Lucy. "Say something like that again and I'm gonna dunk you into a tub of piranhas, 'kay?!"

"Aye!"

Lucy was humming to herself as she slipped on her Bikini, she had chosen her favourite white coloured one with a gorgeous, pink floral pattern running up the side. She had pulled on some clothes over the top and was just pulling her tank top down over her head when she heard an almighty crash behind her. The celestial mage yelped and jumped out of her skin at the sudden commotion. For the second time that day, she whirled around to see who was potentially attacking her and again, she wasn't too surprised to see Natsu half-in-half-out of her second story window. "NASTU!" She screeched, suddenly remembering the tank top hanging around her neck, her anger quickly turned into embarrassment as she hurriedly yanked the garment over her chest and slipped her arms through the straps. "NATSU! I was just changing, you could have come crashing in whilst I WAS _NAKED_! Can't you just KNOCK and use the door like a NORMAL person?!"

Said Dragon Slayer wasn't paying her much attention as he pulled the remaining part of his body through the window and onto the bed. He reached around and pulled in a dazed Happy into the apartment by his tail. The exceed had accidentally misjudged his landing and had crashed, along with his rose-haired passenger, into the closed window instead of the open one. Natsu had managed to grasp ahold of the window sill and pull the top half of his body through the open window with a groan of pain, but his blue cat was completely knocked out. "Huh?!" Natsu said, looking at Lucy, wondering what she was talking about. He blinked at her several times and caught onto the fact that she was yelling at him for barging in and not knocking. "Whatever, Luce." He mumbled in a laid back manner. "It wasn't as if you _were_ naked or anything." Her quickly glanced at her with a smirk and added: "And besides, it's not as if I haven't seen any of it before..."

The blonde stared at the boy in furry, her cheeks going a rosy shade of red as she realised what he was referring to. Last month Natsu had broken into his friend's house and had walked in on Lucy showering to both of their horror and embarrassment. Lucy had hurled nearly every item in the bathroom at him whilst screaming as Natsu had fallen to the floor, scratching his eyes, unable to un-see what he had just seen. It had taken the Dragon Slayer over a weeks worth of apologies to get his friend to forgive him, neither of them had mentioned the incident since, until now. Lucy was still recovering from shock at what Natsu had just said and was struggling to form a coherent sentence. "Wha-What? T-that was t-totally YOUR fault! I-I mean, wh-what are you even t-trying to imply? Y-you m-m-moron..."

Natsu laughed like a hyena at the blonde's reaction. "Ahh, it's okay, Luce!" He said, trying to console her, "You don't have to be _embarrassed_ or anything, you have the best pair of br-"

He was suddenly silenced as a hair brush connected with his face at high speed. "I AM NOT _EMBARRASSED_!" Lucy screeched, going an even darker shade of red as she started pelting Natsu with even more beauty-related items. She spun around, grabbed her Celestial Keys and a fluffy towel before stomping out of her apartment, not giving the Dragon Slayer anymore time to tease her.

Still laughing to himself and clutching his stomach, Natsu stumbled down after his friend, trying to catch up with her. "Luce. LUCE. LUCY!" He yelled after her as she marched away from him down the street.

"What?!" The celestial mage snapped in irritation, still unbelievably angry at her 'friend'.

Natsu grinned. "You're going the wrong way."

He bolted as Lucy's face blushed beetroot red before she began chasing after him, threatening that she would make Cancer shave him bald if she caught him.

Natsu's laughter could be heard ringing through the street as he sprinted away with glee, his blonde friend not too far behind, yelling all the curses she could think of.

The two fairies were too distracted by each other to realise that they had left Happy behind in the apartment. The blue cat was still sprawled out on the bed, still unconscious, stars in his eyes and fish flying in circles above his head.

"Are you sure it's safe for us to go in?" Lucy sad uncertainly, eyeing the black pool of water before her with distrust. The walk through the forest and up the mountain to Natsu's supposedly 'super awesome' place may have cooled her temper, but the rest of her was dizzy from the heat. By the time the two mages had finally reached their destination, Lucy would have said that she would have been happy to cool off in any body of water... except now looking at the dark, murky pool, she wasn't so sure. The 'pool' was more of a large pond, it was roughly ten metres in diameter and the water was completely black. Lucy couldn't even guess how deep it went, it could go down a couple of metres or it could reach the centre of the earth.

"Of course!" Natsu reassured with his signature grin. "I've been in plenty of times!"

Lucy rolled her eyes, of _course_ Natsu would choose to go swimming in the creepiest looking pool he could find. A shudder went up her spine as she thought about all the fish, no _monsters,_ that could be lurking in the murky waters. "B-but what if there are _things_ in there?! Like big creatures and sea serpents?!"

The Dragon Slayer's grin widened. "There aren't any _things_ or _creatures_ in there." He laughed. "In fact there aren't even any fish! The water's salt content is too high for anything to live in it." Raising an eyebrow, Lucy eyed the rose-haired mage with surprise. Seeing her confusion, the Dragon Slayer gestured to the cliff above them. "Inside the mountain there is still some volcanic activity, and some things to do with sulphur." He explained impatiently. "I was on a job a few years back, some lady who owned some hot springs and sulphur baths wanted me to go into one of the mountain caves to try to find more natural springs she could use. I found loads, most of them were sulphur pools, but some had high salt content, including this one. They're meant to be good for your skin or something. The sulphur ones smelled so bad, like rotting eggs, and they were all cloudy and white. All the salt ones were black. I had to find all the pools, mark them on a map and bring it back to this old lady. She made most of them into proper hot springs but left this one because it wasn't naturally heated and it was too big to heat manually. SO she let me have it!" The Dragon Slayer finished his story with pride, hands on his hips. "Pretty cool, eh?"

"... yeah..." The blonde agreed uncertainly. She knew that sulphur pools were great for your skin, but she wasn't sure she wanted to try out a salt pool, especially one as creepy looking as this. "I think I'm going to sit this one out, Natsu. But you go on ahead and dive i-"

Before the celestial mage had even finished, the Dragon Slayer had snuck behind her and gave her shoulders a forceful push. Lucy yelped as she found herself hurtling towards the dark, murky waters, her arms flailing around her like a windmill. With a final cry Lucy hit the water, getting drenched from head to toe. To her horror she found she couldn't reach the bottom of the pool, and she struggled to tread water with all her clothes weighing her down. She gasped as she resurfaced, trying to push her sopping hair from her eyes and face. "NATSU!" She screeched from in between breaths. "I am going to KILL you when I get out of here!" She heard the Dragon Slayer laughing, but couldn't see him. Suddenly, she heard him yell, a loud splash from behind her, and she was suddenly pulled back under the surface.

By the time it had taken Lucy to start freaking about being pushed into the pool, Natsu had already stripped down to his own swim shorts and with a roar, had thrown himself into the water after Lucy. Instinctively, he grabbed her waist and pulled her down with him, but they quickly resurfaced. He noticed she was coughing slightly, but the angry glint in her eyes told him she wasn't hurt. He felt a hand suddenly grab his hair and try to force his head under the water. "Hey!" He complained, trying not to drown whilst also trying to push the blonde away from him.

"First you PUNCH me, then you BRAKE INTO MY HOUSE, then you MOCK me, then you MAKE ME WALK UP THIS DAMN MOUNTAIN AND THROW ME INTO THIS CREEPY ASS POOL and now you're trying to DROWN ME!" Lucy spat, still viciously attempting to do some drowning herself. However, she soon gave up trying to hold down Natsu's thrashing body as she was struggling to keep her own chin above the water. Her shorts were made of denim and they were weighing her down badly, and she was still clutching her soaking towel in her hand which made floating pretty difficult.

Still giggling to himself about his mean trick the fire mage swam closer to the blonde and reached for her hands. She grunted as he took the towel from her and threw it onto the bank. "You need to take off your clothes so you don't drown." He said, very matter-of-factly.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Lucy mumbled sarcastically as she tried to stay afloat and unbutton her shorts at the same time. She started when she felt Natsu's hand's push her own out the way as he tried to help her. "H-hey!" She squeaked, a pink flush blossoming on her cheeks. "Watch where you're putting those hands!" Attempting to push him away, the celestial mage grabbed his shoulders.

"Don't worry." The rose-haired male snorted, grin widening. "I'm just trying to help." He raised an eyebrow when Lucy started whining that she didn't need help from 'perverts like _him_ ' and completely ignored her. With little help from her flailing around, Natsu managed to unbutton the denim shorts and pull them down her legs. He rolled his eyes when he heard her squeal. "C'mon it's not as if you're naked under those clothes, you're wearing your swimsuit for Mavis' sake!" Lucy aggressively tried to argue that _yes,_ she was 'naked under those clothes' as was everyone else when you removed their garments. But she understood his point and didn't complain too much when the fire mage threw the shorts onto the bank next to the towel. "Arms up." Natsu said, he watched with a smirk at Lucy blushing bright red before raising her arms. Grabbing the hem of her tank top, Natsu pulled it off her and sent it where her other belongings were on the bank.

Now mostly free of her clothes, Lucy found she could float a lot better and managed to unhook her shoes from her feet and toss them onto the bank. Her face was still burning hotly, despite being in the cold pool, and the places where Natsu had touched her were tingling madly. She knew Natsu could be a little dense, and most people took his care-free attitude as child-like innocence, but Lucy knew he wasn't as ignorant as he looked. The Dragon Slayer may not have cared for _those_ sorts of things, but he was perfectly aware of how they affected others. And Lucy knew he was probably enjoying making her feel this uncomfortable. But he was a friend, a _good_ friend, and she knew that he would never over step the line and hurt her feelings. It wasn't as if she _liked_ the Dragon Slayer either, sure she found him attractive, but who didn't? He just wasn't interested in things like _love_ or _relationships_ and Lucy saw him as nothing more than a friend, despite what everyone at the guild thought.

Still treading water next to her, Nastu tilted his head in confusion at Lucy's expression. "What's up?" He asked.

"Huh?" The celestial mage said, startled out of her thoughts. "Oh, nothing." She glanced at his disbelieving frown and tried to offer an explanation. "I was just wondering what everyone else at the guild would think if I told them that you took me out into the middle of nowhere, threw me in a pond and started to strip off my clothes against my will."

The Dragon Slayer snorted at Lucy's exaggeration, she still sounded pretty miffed about the whole ordeal but he could tell that she was starting to enjoy being in the cold pool. "Mira would probably have a heart attack." He speculated with a grin.

"Or she'd die from happiness, you know how she's always trying to match us up together." Lucy had a flashback to the time where Mira tried to convince her that Natsu was into her. The celestial mage shuddered at the memory, it had been some of the most stressful days of her life, thinking that her team mate was going to confess his love for her at any given moment. In the end Lucy realised that Natsu was probably incapable of feeling any sort of affection for someone in a romantic sort of way. Even after the horrific ordeal Mira had insisted that Lucy and Natsu were practically made for each other.

Said Dragon Slayer was nodding in agreement, thinking back to all the times Mirajane had referred to Lucy as his 'special' friend. He snorted with amusement at the image of Mira swooning about how he had 'assaulted' Lucy. Quickly, his mind darted back to the current situation and decided that treading water was boring and he wanted to do something more fun. Without a single moment of hesitation, Natsu splashed a large amount of water at Lucy's face.

Her expression was priceless, he laughed as she froze up, mouth stuck in an 'o' shape. She seemed to quickly gather her wits though as she splashed him back with a roar. The rose-haired mage spat out a mouthful of water and yelled, "AHH! C'mon, Luce! You can do better than that!"

The celestial mage felt herself get rilled up at the Dragon Slayer's taunting, she too broke out into a grin before shouting back, "OH YEAH?! Let's see how you handle THIS!" She laughed as she kicked a wave of water over Natsu's head and heard him yelp with surprise.

Soon they were both laughing, shouting and playing like children, both trying to swim away from and out-do the other. Eventually, both mages became exhausted and they floated on their backs, staring at the darkening sky above them with grins on their faces. Natsu glanced at his partner floating next to him, he gave her an affectionate poke. "So, had a good day? Feeling any better?" He asked.

"Mhhmm." Lucy hummed in agreement, not even bothering to get annoyed at being poked. She didn't take her eyes off the orange and pink sky, the faint glow of the stars and moon could just be seen above them. A sense of pure contentment rushed through her, she sighed, not remembering the last time she had felt this _good_ and peaceful. The air around them was still warm, a slight breeze danced across her exposed skin, and the water beneath her really was deliciously cool and refreshing. Natsu was right about this place being special after all.

However, the peaceful atmosphere was suddenly shattered when a cold, hard laugh cut through the air. "Play time's over, children." A cold, hard voice cackled.

AN: "Woah! A crappy cliffhanger? How original, Peash!" Says everyone sarcastically. I know, I know! Please don't hate me! I was originally going to end this chapter where the two mages find themselves chained together, but the word count was over 8k+ so I decided to cut it up.

The good news of that though is that the second chapter is all ready for posting! Hurrah! I will try to stick to a regular and frequent uploading schedule, I also write a chapter ahead so even if a disaster happens I will always have something to post!

Thank you so much for reading, may I please ask for you to review or favourite? I can't express how much it'll mean to me to get support for this story, even if it's just one word of praise!

Until next time,

~ Peash


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Hello again, you wonderful reader! I'm back with an _early Thursday_ update for you all, HUZZAH! I'm doing this because this chapter was originally part of the first chapter, but the word count was too big so I cut it in two. Therefore, not too much happens in this chapter, so I thought I'd update early and post the real next chapter this coming Saturday. Which leads me onto the next point: Saturday will become my weekly update date, I know it's a pain to wait a week, but I need that time to make sure my writing is at its absolute best~

Also, thank you all so much for the favourites and reviews! I wasn't expecting to get so much support~ I really wanted to thank all the guest reviewers, but sadly I don't have a way to reply to them… but if you're reading this and you reviewed the last chapter; Thank you so much, you all made my week!

I do not own Fairy Tail!

Anyways, enjoy!

~ Peash

 _However, the peaceful atmosphere was suddenly shattered when a cold, hard laugh cut through the air. "Play time's over, children." A cold, hard voice cackled._

Both mages instinctively jumped and spun around in the direction the laugh was coming from. Fear and adrenaline started pumping through their blood. A dark, hooded shadow emerged from the trees. It crept forward, still chuckling menacingly, until it reached the piles of clothes the two mages had left on the bank. A dark aura was being emitted from the shadow, no face could be seen but two glowing, yellow eyes shone darkly from the blackness. It stood around six feet tall, all clad in ragged shreds of ripped cloth that seemed to wisp away into nothing at the edges. Its body didn't seem to be quite there, and soft whispers could be heard coming from the slow, swaying edges of the fabric, it was almost as if the cloak itself was alive. However, despite being completely covered from head to toe, it was clear from the deep laugh that the figure before them was male.

Instinctively, Lucy reached to her waist to grab her keys but realised with sickening horror that they were on the bank with her clothes.

"Looking for these?" A voice asked tauntingly, coming from the shadowy figure. A ring of celestial keys appeared from the menacing shadows. Lucy's expression hardened as she recognised her precious keys. "Don't worry," The figure reassured, unreassuringly, "I don't want them." And with that he dropped them onto the bank next to Lucy's clothes.

The fire mage was starting to get pissed off. His initial shock had worn off and it was being replaced by a growing sense of furry, who was this guy who thought he could interrupt what was a peaceful and touching moment?! Even worse, he had Lucy's keys which meant he was aware that they were wizards, which couldn't be good. "Listen, pal." Natsu spat, "I don't know who you are but you can go back to where you came from before I-"

"Before you what?" The shadow interjected with a sneer. "Before you try to roast me to death with your petty flames, _fire breath?"_

Natsu's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you-"

"How did I know what magic you use?" Interrupted the shadow again, he chuckled before answering. "I know all about you, _dragon slayer."_ The dark figure laughed harshly as it watched Natsu raise his flaming fists. "I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Mocked the figure, malicious intentions were oozing from him. "You see, I might accidentally hurt something very, _very_ precious to you."

Natsu, filled with dread, immediately glanced towards Lucy but was stopped short by the shadow laughing at him again. The Dragon Slayer hadn't made a move towards the mysterious figure, but he hadn't extinguished his flames either.

"No, no, no!" The shadow laughed, tossing back his hooded head. "I don't mean your girlfriend."

Face flushing, from both anger and embarrassment, Natsu challenged the figure again. "Look, she's not my _girlfriend,_ but I will tear you a new one if you do anything to hurt her. As I said, I don't know who you are or what you want, but I'm losing my patience-"

"Not your girlfriend, hmm?" The shadow cackled, "You could have fooled me. And I don't really _want_ anything in particular, I was just passing through when I stumbled upon you two lovebirds and I couldn't resist wishing you all the best of luck in your relationship with one another." The two yellow eyes, narrowed to slits.

Both fairies blushed aggressively. Natsu really was losing his patience, he turned his flames up a notch and was about to leap forward with a roar when the sight before him made him freeze up in fear.

The shadowy figure was holding Natsu's dragon scale scarf. His precious scarf given to him by Igneel. And pressing against it was a black blade that seemed to be made out of the same smokey mass as the mysterious figure. "As I said before, Salamander, I have something precious that belongs to you, so I wouldn't be attacking me if I were you." He tittered.

Lucy was frozen, she felt helpless without her keys and she couldn't throw off the feeling of despair the strange figure was emitting. It was like he wasn't a man at all, but a collection of all sorts of magic all stitched together. Seeing the furry in Natsu's eyes, Lucy stared at their aggressor and whispered: "What do you want with us?"

"As I said before," The hooded figure purred. "I don't _want_ anything. Although, I do want to return this delightful scarf back to Salamander before I go on my way. You see, I am in a little bit of trouble with one of your fellow guild-mates, and I just _know_ that she'll eventually seek the help of Salamander when she gives up looking for me. And although this wouldn't have bothered me under normal circumstances, due to either fate or bad luck I seemed to have run into you in the forest up here. Which means your lovely, little dragon nose will have already picked up my scent and since I need to get away from here without being followed, this causes me a bit of a problem. Sure I could kill you, but that takes _time_ and a fight would draw too much attention. So, I thought, 'Why not drop by, have a little chat with Salamander and just warn him not to follow me when his friend asks him to follow my trail?' And here I am!" The shadowed figure finished with a small bow.

If Natsu wasn't worried before, he was now. This guy meant serious business. Although, the Dragon Slayer didn't understand all of what the creep was saying. "What? So you're threatening to cut my scarf if I follow you to where ever you run off to?" Natsu asked with suspicion. "You know if it came to either choosing between a friend in need or my scarf I'd pick my friend any day."

The shadow seemed to grin. "I understand that, I was only threatening to cut your scarf to provide me with enough time to warn you not to follow me... and to put a tiny, little enchantment on it."

Natsu's eyes widened, he looked and sure enough he could see faint, purple runes covering his beloved garment. Rage as hot as lava erupted in his heart. The fire mage reached towards his scarf with pitying helplessness, his eyes were full of hurt anger. "What have you _done_?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE-"

But before Natsu could even finish yelling, let alone throw himself at the shadow, the shadowy figure tossed the scarf towards the Dragon Slayer with a playful, "Catch!"

Lucy watched everything unfolding before her in horror. She didn't understand how the shadowy figure thought he could stop Natsu from chasing him with just a verbal warning, so she suspected more was at hand. The mysterious figure probably had a nasty trick up his sleeve. And when he threw the scarf back to Natsu, the celestial mage instantly paled. "NO! NATSU DON'T! IT'S A TRICK!" She screamed, watching in horror as her friend dived to save his scarf from falling into the water. As soon as the scaly fabric touched his body, the scarf glowed an ominous red before sliding like a snake up the Dragon Slayer's arm and towards his neck. Lucy was screaming as she watched Natsu's eyes bulge and his hands tear at his throat with shock and terror. The scarf seemed to be strangling him. Without hesitating, Lucy swam towards her friend who had now disappeared beneath the black waters surface. She reached out with a hand and grabbed what she suspected was his shoulder.

The shadowy, cloaked figure smiled. The girl had taken the bait. Without waiting another moment, the shadow slinked back into the tree-line with a smirk, knowing that he could now escape Magnolia without being followed by the Dragon Slayer.

Lucy couldn't scream. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even move. Somehow, when she had grabbed Natsu, the scarf had attached itself around her neck and was now constricting her windpipe. She could sense Natsu next to her, they were being pulled down, deeper and deeper into the pool. Fear was overwhelming her, along with a sense of hopelessness, knowing that she was about to die. Her lungs were screaming with pain, her heartbeat was erratic, and she could feel her mind shutting down. As she descended into darkness, her last thought was of wanting to reach out and take Natsu's hand.

"... can't believe this! It's just too horrible!"

"They're lucky, it could have been much worse if I hadn't seen them being dragged down into the water. They could have drowned-"

"Please, Erza! No, don't say things like that! I don't want to imagine anything like that happening!"

"I still don't think this is going to end well, Natsu will be pissed when he wakes up."

"NATSU?! I think it's Lucy who will be pissed when she finds out what's happened!"

"I-I don't know w-what to say... this, t-this is all m-my fault!"

"Mira! No!"

"Erza's right, Mira, it's not your fault."

"N-no! I-it really is! _I_ was the o-one who t-told Natsu to do s-something to cheer Lucy up. If I h-hadn't of s-said anything they would both be f-f-fine right now!"

"Mira! Please don't cry!"

Lucy's mind swam. She barely registered the snippets of conversation she heard. It felt as if a pillow had been placed over her mind and senses, everything was just so fuzzy... everything was just so far away...

With a sickening lurch, the celestial wizard pulled herself into reality. Everything in her mind froze before going into panic as she remembered that she was nearly dying! No, _drowning!_ She and Natsu were drowning! _Natsu?!_ Was he okay?! Why could she still think? And why could she hear voices?!

Everyone froze as they heard an ear splitting scream. They quickly turned towards Lucy.

Lucy was shrieking, _she didn't want to die_! Forcing her eyes open she bolted upright, lights blinded her and her head pounded. She heard people scream for her to stop, but she didn't register them let alone understand what they were saying. She continued to push herself upwards, arms out in front of her, before she was suddenly stopped short by a rapid tightening around her neck. Her body was whipped backwards, her scream cut off, her hands reached for her throat as red spots appeared in her vision. She felt as if she was being strangled again. Terror erupted inside her and tears began to spill out from her eyes, but she could suddenly feel hands on her. Warm comforting hands. She could hear voices. Soothing voices calling her name and telling her to calm down, telling her that she was safe.

Panic ebbing slightly, Lucy opened her eyes again and blinked away the white blindness. She saw the fuzzy outlines of people standing above her. Her guild-mates, she realised with a sudden shock. The fear inside her was immediately replaced with relief, and tears of shock began to roll down her cheeks as she grabbed the hands on her shoulders, scared the people around her might leave if she let them go. "I-I c-ca-"

A chorus of voices cut Lucy off before she had even begun to speak; "Lucy! I'm so glad you're awake!" "We were so scared, Lu!" "You're safe!" "Luce, please don't cry!" "Are you feeling okay?!" "I-I tried me best to heal you b-but I don't know if I've done enough to stop your pain!" "What happened, Lucy?! Tell us everything!"

She ignored them all. "N-natsu!" The blonde whispered hoarsely, she was beginning to feel a deep throbbing pain in her neck and throat, it was definitely swollen. "I-is Natsu o-okay?" She pleaded, her heart pounding with worry. She tried to sit up again, but the hands on her pushed her down again.

"No, Luce, you can't sit up! You'll hurt your neck again!"

"Natsu's safe, Lucy!"

"Yeah, he's lying right next to you!"

Relief spread through the celestial wizard's body. Her muscles relaxed, Natsu was okay. He was alive. He was safe. Struggling, she blinked away the last bits of fuzziness in her vision and was shocked to find almost every single guild member crowded around her. Ezra, Mirajane and Wendy were the ones holding her down. She stared at everyone in surprise and realised that she was in the guild's infirmary, she was lying on a soft bed with sheets covering her body. With some relief she realised that she was still wearing her bikini. "How long h-have I been out?" She asked, her voice nearly breaking from the pain in her throat. "What happened?! I-I was- I mean w-we were drowning a-and-"

Erza swiftly cut her off. "Lucy, you've been unconscious for most of the night. But you're safe now. Out in the mountains, I was chasing a dark wizard when I heard screams, when I followed the sounds to a pool I saw you being dragged down into the water. But thankfully I dived in and managed to pull you and Natsu out onto the bank."

Lucy suddenly remembered the shadow that had nearly caused her to drown. With a flinch she quickly stammered; "Th-there was a wizard! I mean, a shadow thing! It was the one who tried to kill us-"

This time, it was Fairy Tail's Master, Makarov, who cut her off. "Yes, my dear, we know." The old man said kindly. "We will definitely have some questions for you two later on, but for now, we must deal with the... ermm... _issue_ at hand." Lucy noticed with some worry that he looked rather uncomfortable.

"What i-issue?" The celestial wizard asked nervously, glancing around at her guild mates who were no longer looking her in the eyes. " _What_ issue?!" She asked again.

"P-please don't freak, 'kay?" Gray said uncomfortably, Lucy saw that he was stood with his arms crossed and his shoulders hunched with apprehension. "I mean, I think you _are_ going to freak but I don't think it's as bad as everyone is making it out to be-"

With a rising note of panic, Lucy saw that everyone had flinched at the ice mage's words. She heard mumbles ripple around the crowd. She suddenly started to feel very self aware and uncomfortable. "What's going on?!" She asked through her hoarse voice. Ignoring the pain that ripped through her muscles when she shouted. "Please?!" No one answered her, but Lucy saw a number of them quickly shift their gaze to her right. Following their looks, Lucy saw Natsu lying in the bed next to her. Another surge of relief spread through her as she realised he really was safe. He was still unconscious and wearing his swim shorts, but his chest was easily rising and falling and the look on his face was peaceful. Lucy felt a smile rise to her cheeks, but it soon evaporated when she saw a glint of metallic silver. With confusion, the blonde stared at Natsu's neck, his dragon scale scarf was around it, but it seemed to have been shrunk down into a miniature version. And there seemed to be a _chain_ connected to it. Confusion and apprehension rising, Lucy followed the chain with her eyes as she wondered where the end was connected to.

Dread, fear and disbelief pooled into the bottom of her stomach. The chain was connected to her own neck. _Natsu and herself were chained together._

Lucy shrieked as her hands flung towards her neck, they grasped at it and she felt a similar collar around her own neck. It was pretty tight, she could only slip a couple of fingers under it. It was scaly, but soft around her skin, which was why she hadn't noticed it until that moment. It also explained why she hadn't been able to sit up properly when she had awoken, the chain had been too short. Although the two collars were made out of the rather soft and light dragon skin, the chain connecting the two mages looked as if it was made out of steel.

People were still trying to comfort the blonde, telling her it was okay. Some were telling her that they had already tried cutting it, but to no avail. Lucy tried to speak, "What-what is this?! What is _this?!_ " She cried desperately, looking around at everyone with pleading eyes. They all looked away, embarrassed.

This couldn't be happening.

 _This couldn't be happening!_

She could not be tied to Natsu! No, _chained_ to him! Blood flushed to her cheeks as the full impact of the situation hit her. What if they couldn't break it?! What if they were stuck like that forever?! How would she live?! Trying to calm herself down, the celestial wizard took several deep breaths before speaking again. "It's f-fine, right?! Everyone?! W-we can just cut the chain with magic?"

Almost everyone looked away. It was Levy who stepped forward and bravely spoke. "Erm, w-we have already tried that, Lu. It doesn't seem like it can be cut... Gajeel even tried to chew through it!" Levy's face darkened in colour as she saw disbelief clouding her friend's gaze. "Y-yeah, it definitely can't be b-broken normally. Because... well because..." The blue haired girl trailed off and looked extremely uncomfortable.

It was Freed who then took over. "There's an enchantment upon it. An enchantment that is specifically designed to bind two people together until they fulfil the requirements the original spell-caster has set, the only way the chain will break is by fulfilling the requirements."

Lucy saw red. Her mind flashed back to the dark shadow who had casted a spell on Natsu's scarf, she remembered seeing it covered in purple runes just before he had tossed the scarf to Natsu. "W-what are these requirements?" Lucy asked hesitantly, sensing the unease in the air.

Levy timidly spoke again. "W-we don't know exactly... this type of magic is seriously old. The wizard who cast the spell has used an ancient language that none of us can understand. It seems as if he wants to keep these requirements a secret from us. And, umm, from what I've read, most of the time, for these sorts of spells… the requirement is that one of the chained persons has to kill the other one to be set free..." Her eyes were glued to her shoes as she relayed the information.

Lucy was dumbstruck, she was still in a state of disbelief. "And we'll be stuck like this _forever_ if we don't do whatever this guy has set for us to do?! Which is for one of us to kill the other?!"

"We don't know that, Lucy!" The Master said sharply. "The requirement might be more simple, it explains why the wizard who cast it has chosen to keep his requirement a secret. It might be as simple as both of you need to wear the same coloured shirt, or some other task like that. I believe that this spell has been designed to hinder you and Natsu, rather than harm you." He reassured calmly.

Levy nodded eagerly. "Don't worry, Lu! I'll definitely try to figure out the requirement by translating the ancient language it's written in, even if I have to read every book in Fiore to do it!"

For the first time since the shock of finding out she was tied to her best friend, Lucy weakly smiled. Seeing Levy so eager to help had started a spark of warmth in her chest despite all the anxiety and worry. She looked around at everyone and saw them all smiling too, a look of determination in their eyes. She was going to get through this! Lucy thought, her confidence growing with every passing second. "I believe in you, Lev." She smiled. "I won't let this get me down, with you guys here, nothing can stop us!"

The rest of the guild cheered loudly, their spirits rising. Many of them high-fived each other and most patted Lucy on the shoulder.

Everyone had temporarily forgotten about a certain, pink-haired Dragon Slayer until he was woken up by the loud cheering. "Wh-what's going on?!" Natsu said with a yawn, stretching his arms above him. He suddenly froze up as he noticed every member of the guild staring down at him. "Wh-what?!" He stammered nervously, he seemed to have apparently forgotten about nearly drowning.

"Err, Natsu..." Lucy began. "Please don't freak out... But-"

"LUCY?! WHY AM I CHAINED TO YOU?! WHAT IN MAVIS' NAME IS GOING ON?! WHO DID THIS?! GRAY?! IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF A SICK JOKE, YOU ASSHOLE?!"

Thank you for reading! I know it's not much and it's all doom and gloom, but the next chapter coming this Saturday will make up for it, I promise!

Please consider reviewing and favouriting! It means a lot to me and I appreciate every ounce of support~

Until next time!

~ Peash


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